Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24). That in this passage the "sun" does not mean the sun, nor the "moon" the moon, nor the "stars" the stars; but that the "sun" signifies love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; the "moon" the faith of love and charity; and the "stars" the knowledges of good and truth, was shown above (n. 31, 32, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 2120, 2441); so that by these words of the Lord there is signified that in the consummation of the age (or last period of the church) there will no longer be any love, or charity, nor therefore any faith. [3] That this is the meaning is evident from similar words of the Lord in the Prophets, as in Isaiah:

Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, to make the earth a solitude and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it; for the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not shine with their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine (Isa. 13:9-10);

where also the last period of the church, or what is the same, the consummation of the age, is treated of. In Joel:

A day of darkness and of thick darkness, a day of cloud and obscurity, before Him the earth quaked, the heavens trembled, the sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining (Joel 2:2, 10);

with a similar meaning. Again in the same:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes (Joel 2:31). And again in the same:

The day of Jehovah is near, the sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining (Joel 3:14-15). In Ezekiel:

When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine; all the luminaries of light in the heavens will I make dark, and will set darkness upon thy land (Ezek. 32:7-8). So too in John:

I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars fell unto the earth (Rev. 6:12, 13). The fourth angel sounded, so that the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, and the third part of them was darkened (Rev. 8:12). [4] From these passages it is evident that the Lord's words in the Evangelists involve much the same as His words in the Prophets, namely, that in the last times there will be neither charity, nor faith; and that this is the internal sense; as also is still further evident in Isaiah:

The moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, for Jehovah Zebaoth shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem (Isa. 24:23);

that is to say, faith, which is the "moon," shall blush; and charity, which is the "sun," shall be ashamed, because they are such; for it cannot be said of the moon and the sun that they shall blush and be ashamed. And in Daniel:

The goat's horn grew toward the south, and toward the east, and grew even to the army of the heavens, and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the earth and trampled upon them (Dan. 8:9-10);

where it is plain to everyone that the "army of the heavens" does not signify an "army," nor the "stars" stars. GENESIS 20

1. And Abraham journeyed thence toward the land of the south, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and he sojourned in Gerar. 2. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister; and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold thou wilt die because of the woman whom thou hast taken, for she is married to a husband. 4. And Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, Lord, wilt Thou slay also a righteous nation? 5. Said he not himself unto me, She is my sister? And she herself also said, He is my brother: in the uprightness of my heart and in the blamelessness of my hands have I done this. 6. And God said unto him in the dream, Yea, I know that in the uprightness of thy heart thou hast done this; and I also withheld thee from sinning against Me; therefore I did not suffer thee to touch her. 7. And now restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet; and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; and if thou restore her not, know thou that dying thou shalt die, thou and all that are thine. 8. And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their ears; and the men feared greatly. 9. And Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? And wherein have I sinned against thee that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Thou hast done unto me deeds that ought not to be done. 10. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou that thou hast done this word? 11. And Abraham said, Because I said, Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me on account of the word of my wife. 12. And moreover truly she is my sister, being the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13. And it came to pass when God caused me to depart from my father's house that I said unto her, This is thy goodness which thou shalt do unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. 14. And Abimelech took flock and herd, and menservants and maidservants, and gave unto Abraham; and restored to him Sarah his wife. 15. And Abimelech said, Behold my land is before thee; dwell in that which is good in thine eyes. 16. And unto Sarah he said, Behold I have given a thousand of silver to thy brother; behold it is unto thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee, and with all; and she was vindicated. 17. And Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they brought forth. 18. For closing Jehovah had therefore closed every womb of the house of Abimelech, because of the word of Sarah, Abraham's wife.